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Pay Per Click advertising is not exactly rocket science, but you need to have your wits about you or you end up burning your cash with little reward. Having said that, if you can get the management and set up right, PPC can really make a difference to you business.

Google data shows, that those clicking the paid ads, ‘need to fulfill a commercial requirement’. In other words, they need to get things done, so a PPC strategy is pretty vital for any lead generation activity.

I have come across hundreds of customers, who have not received any value from their Adwords account, in fact some businesses will loose money. In 90% of cases the reasons why a Google Adwords campaign has been a waste of time is that it has been poorly managed.

Below are the most the common mistakes:

Very limited or none at all negative keywordsare being used. Negative key words help block out the key words that don’t relate to your business. For example if you are a boutique hotel, you don’t want the key words “cheap places to stay” or ‘budget accommodation’ within the Ad Groups and no negative keywords are being used at campaign level which may result in clicks for unwanted search phrases.

Ads are showing up for irrelevant search phrases which is resulting in wasted spend. Adding negative keywords will stop your Ad’s from being triggered for these related search terms and help refine the traffic.

There should at least be 3 per Ad Group to take advantage of Google’s ad rotation system. Test different type of hooks, whether it is a free consultation, 10% OFF, or money back guarantee. This way you can understand and utilise what is the best marketing technique for your business.

Campaign should be broken down into tightly themed groups of keywords to target and/or attract higher quality traffic.

What is very common mistake is a number of keywords are being targeted that have low search volume. Underperforming keywords may have a detrimental effect on the campaign. Depending on the industry, you should be looking for key phrases that have been searched 1,000 (plus) times per month.

You need to refine search traffic, the more targeted the more effective your campaign, use Keyword match types to do this.

Some keywords are at number 4 or lower on the list, you should be aiming for the top 3 positions as these are the most clicked Ad’s

You must measure. Conversion tracking code should be tracking any web form submissions, therefore the account cannot be optimised as efficiently. If you receive a new business calls you make sure you ask the customers where they found your business. You need to account for your PPC spend, otherwise it is not worth doing.

It is hard to argue against the fact that social media has given power back to the people.
Social Media was used with great artistry in 2008 when the Democrats appealed to a younger generation of Americans to vote Obama, the campaigns were so effective that they won advertising’s most respected prize, the Cannes Lion. Also recently, it was Social Media that sparked a revolt against oppressive regimes in North Africa and the Middle East, and became the tools for freedom in Egypt. As Social Media becomes more and more widespread, the voice of the people, becomes increasingly influential as it infiltrates all facets of society, from journalism to even our justice system.

Nowhere is this more apparent than the case of Jill Meagher. A tragic story of a young journalist that was missing for days and eventually found dead. The story became a Social Media phenomenon, at first Social Media was helping search for Meagher, but when she was found dead, murdered, the concern that was being expressed, turned to grief and now anger. “A Facebook hate group against the accused in the Meagher case has already attracted almost 18,000 “likes”. ”

The concern that is expressed by Police and legal experts is that Social Media is influencing the case even before the facts are presented.

It prompted the Victorian Police to publish their own warning on Facebook…Social Media is the democratization of journalism, anyone can be published no matter what their qualifications on any particular topic. It becomes dangerous when a group, like in Meagher’s case, starts to react to emotion and forget about an individuals right to a fair trial.

So how do we curb the mob mentality in Social Media, can we punish those who behave irresponsibly, those who incite hate; set laws and parameters, that ultimately curb free speech. If we start policing Social Media, we loose what the medium has given us, the chance to voice our opinion without the fear of reprisal, the ability to cry ‘foul’ against behemoths like governments and corporations.

In my opinion there is no quick fix to the problem, the best course of action is to educate on what is responsible behaviour in Social Media. The appropriate behaviour will only come about when individuals start to realise that what they publish can cause harm to others.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the increasing importance of social media influence. Marketers are now using social media to do what they have been doing for decades, that is, using the medium to create some exclusivity around a brand. Exclusivity, in most cases means being able to reject a user on the merits of their frequency, and quality, of engagement. Is this smart marketing or a way to just to create enemies of the brand.

Jasu (www.jasu.com) is an online retailer that requires you to score a Klout score of 40 or more, if you have less than that, literally, ‘your money is no good here’. Fair enough, we know the score, the same sort of deal as when the plastic blonde at the door of the hottest night club gives you the ‘sorry guys we are full tonight’. Only to open the gates to every man and his dog three months later, with the cash register sounding, Ka-tsing!. I dont think Jasu will work. With a nightclub, perception is created around the fantasy about what is inside the club; the ambiance, the people, the architecture, the cocktails etc. With Jasu, you can actually go on the website, see the clothes, but you cannot buy. There is no mystique about blocking my path to the check out.

Similar tactics are used by Grey Coupon mustard whose Facebook page is coined the Society of Good Taste. http://www.facebook.com/greypoupon. Now it can be argued that this campaign is right on brand, that is, “only for fans who are identified as having “good taste” can “like” it on the social network.

The app “searches and judges users’ profiles based on their proper use of grammar, art taste, check ins, book and movie selections, and so forth, and gives them a percentile score based on their refinement. However, if the algorithm detects poor taste in music or text-speak, for example, they could be rejected. Those who do not qualify will have their “like” deleted, and be asked to refine their profile before trying again”. (Advertising Age, Are You Refined Enough to Be a Fan of Grey Poupon’s Facebook Page?, September, 2012).

I did have a go at this because I thought it was a great creative idea. Until I was rejected for not being refined enough. Now, I admit that at times I may lack a bit of proper social etiquette, but I have traveled extensively, lived and worked in Europe and Asia, I have read Doestoyevsky, Miller, Milton, Kafka and Hemingway, studied Arts, I know how to pick a nice Bourgelais, smoked many Cuban cigars and do like a spot of tennis (old chap). This may sound a bit like sulking, but damn it, I should be allowed to be a fan on the Grey Poupon Facebook page!.

The culmination of emotions will hit a zenith at the supermarket when I meet face to face with my tormentor. Will I be driven to purchase like some love lost puppy looking to reconcile? Nope, I will just go the next best looking french mustard and call it a day.

‘The museum of Me’ campaign went nuts, within two weeks after launch they had achieved…

540,000 Likes

+790,000 shares onto Facebook

+130,000,000 impressions on Facebook

source: (Intel website)

‘The Musical of Me’ has just be launched and will also be very widely viewed.

As much as I love both campaigns, I am not sure how they benefit the brand. Intel is the world’s largest and most successful semiconductor chip maker, their products are normally found inside your favourite PC. I understand that the campaigns in some way do exhibit Intel’s prowess in digital technology, but I think that message may be lost on most users.

Are Intel’s Facebook campaigns a work of marketing genius or are they just a source of muse for Facebook users?

Can a great experience on Facebook achieve brand loyalty and awareness?